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A Fiscal Cliff Deal Appears Unlikely; What's Next?

As we approach the inevitability of the fiscal cliff, taxpayers are understandably concerned. How much more will I have to pay in taxes? Will the the economy worsen? What will the spending cuts mean for my family? What surprises await for personal and business taxes and regulations in 2013?

First, the new taxes. Personal income taxes will be going up for everyone. As reported today by The Right Scoop,

The NY Post has created a chart of what you’ll pay in taxes next year if there is no fiscal cliff deal:

As you can tell, that's not chump change.

But it gets worse. There is also an onslaught of new regulations set to go into effect. As Senator Portman (R-OH) stated in an August 2012 guest column in the Wall Street Journal,

Americans are learning more about the "fiscal cliff" approaching at the beginning of next year, when tax rates for families and small businesses are set to spike and new taxes in President Obama's health care spending law take effect. But unless there's real change in Washington, we're also headed for a steep "regulatory cliff" that could compound the damage.

After three years of bureaucratic excess, the Obama administration has been quietly postponing several multibillion-dollar regulations until after the November election. Those delayed rules, together with more than 130 unfinished mandates under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, could significantly increase the regulatory drag on our economy in 2013.

Now that President Obama has been reelected, this massive armada of new regulations is ready to be unleashed against businesses all across America.

The National Federation of Independent Business reports that over 4100 new regulations are set to be enacted on businesses in 2013. NFIB has compiled a list of just the 13 most expensive regulations, that together will cost the economy over $500 BILLION over four years:

If you're so inclined, you can amuse yourself with the absurdities of the full list of new regulations here. One wonders what possible need exists for the federal government to regulate, for instance, endangered and threatened wildlife and plants in the manatee refuge in Citrus County, Florida; or to create a mandate for all new cars to have rear view cameras; or why so many new ozone regulations are being written when it's been known for at least a decade that the ozone layer has been stabilized.

So, not only are taxes going up for individuals and businesses under the Sequestration Bill; not only are new taxes being implemented under Obamacare (that medical device tax is really gonna do wonders for the economy, eh?); but we have yet another drag on our economic engine in the form of new regulations costing businesses exorbitant amounts of capital misallocated towards compliance instead of growth.

If economic indicators are correct and history repeats, it appears that 2013 will be one of the most difficult in recent memory. Hope for a robust economy has changed to decreased expectations.

In the wake of the recent fiscal cliff deal, a jubilant White House bragged about breaking the Republican's no-tax pledge, referring to their victory as "one of the most consequential policy achievements of the last couple decades".But New York Congressman Chris Gibson, who had already hinted that he would not be beholden to the Grover Norquist no-tax pledge that he signed a mere two years earlier, doesn't quite see it that way.

After weeks of backroom deals and fruitless negotiations with the White House and the Democrat-controlled Senate, the House and Senate passed a bill to supposedly avert the dreaded "fiscal cliff". The bill, H.R. 8, was titled "the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012".

Last night, in a last ditch effort to avoid the "fiscal cliff" the House passed a bill that sought to prevent tax hikes for all but the top 2% of American workers. Taking a short break from his Hawaiian vacation, President Obama stopped by the White House to pat everyone on the back for bowing to his will. His speech should be laughable considering it followed a bill that is a joke, however, anyone that knows the details of the deal that was passed (with the help of 85 soon-to-be out of a job Republicans) certainly are not laughing.

Key Vote NO on H.R. 8, the “Fiscal Cliff” Tax Hikes and Sequester Postponement Bill
Dear FreedomWorks member,
As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to vote against H.R. 8, the McConnell-Obama bill to raise taxes and postpone the promised sequester savings.

Key Vote NO on “Fiscal Cliff” Tax Hikes and Sequester Postponement
Dear FreedomWorks member,
As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your state’s two U.S. Senators and urge them to vote against the McConnell-Obama bill to raise taxes and postpone the promised sequester savings.

If President Obama and Senator Reid were actually negotiating in good faith, then one could argue that Speaker Boehner's Plan B was an acceptable, if unpalatable, compromise. After all, it permanently extended the current tax rates for very nearly all Americans, eliminating the annual game of chicken in Congress over whether our taxes will automatically increase.

The fiscal cliff is looming, and as FreedomWorks' President Matt Kibbe pointed out, “The $16 trillion monstrosity that is our current national debt is a product of spending too much, not taxing too little.” We need a plan that includes sequestration as well as reforms to taxation and entitlements. Senator Marco Rubio took to the airwaves last night to discuss just this.

Dear FreedomWorks member,As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your Representative and urge him or her to vote against Speaker Boehner’s “Plan B” tax plan. This bill, being offered as replacement language for H.J.Res. 66, would prevent automatic tax rate increases for most individuals, but would allow taxes to automatically increase for some higher-income Americans.